Texas's 2025 legislative session is coming down to the finish line.
Lawmakers have less than two weeks until they gavel out on Monday, June 2. And with little time left, there are still some big, priority bills that have yet to make their way to the governor's desk.
That pressure can lead to some creative wheeling and dealing at the Capitol.
Some of the action on priority bills may take place behind closed doors. University of Houston political scientist Brandon Rottinghaus says that's just part of the legislative process.
"A bicameral Legislature requires that both of the chambers turn their keys," Rottinghaus said. "They have to find some agreement. And horse-trading in that way is perfectly natural."
In the political arena, "horse-trading" refers to when secret negotiations or backroom deals are being made between both chambers – such as the House offering to take up a Senate bill in exchange for the upper chamber taking up one of theirs.
Rottinghaus says some lawmakers are better at this than others.
"It's like a long-running poker game," he said. "Every side has got their cards. Sometimes they're face-up, sometimes you've got facedown cards. So it's all about whether you can bluff effectively."
The current big card game between the House and Senate is on two of their respective priority bills: Senate Bill 3, which bans THC products in the state, and House Bill 2, which provides increased public school funding, boosts teacher pay and more.
But for many, this type of political gamesmanship is disingenuous. Daphne Hoffacker, chair of the Austin Council of PTAs, called the practice "absolutely appalling" after finding out that both bills' fates were tied together.
"We were told that the Texas Two-Step was school funding and vouchers. We were not told that it was vouchers and THC," Hoffacker said.
But those who work in and around politics see it as business as usual.
Chloe Latham-Sikes, deputy director of policy at the Intercultural Development Research Association (IDRA), which advocates for public schools, says she's seen it a lot over Texas' last several legislative sessions. But that doesn't make it any easier to swallow – especially right now.
"It is disheartening, I think, for public education that school funding is once again being used to leverage other priorities that are not education-related, and that the details that we do know about are continuing to chip away at that critical per-student and student-driven funding that the House did approve back in April," Latham-Sikes said.
For those engaging in the practice, this horse-trading can be considered a form of compromise.
Rice University political scientist Mark Jones told Houston Public Media recently that such practices were once normal business.
"Now, for many people, 'compromise' is a synonym for 'capitulation,' and therefore a dirty word and something that people are less willing to do," Jones said.
Besides the school funding bill, a House priority, there's the THC bill, which is being championed by Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who leads the Senate. Patrick wants to ban all forms of THC.
Advocates against banning THC are also frustrated that the bill has become married to school funding – especially veterans who use THC as an alternative for opioid pain medication.
Dave Walden, State Sr. Vice Commander with Texas Veterans of Foreign Wars, says the issues aren't tied together. His group has come out against the proposed Senate bill.
"Veterans should have every possible alternative to opioids, whether that's hemp, whether that is THC, whether it's ibogaine, whatever the case may be," Walden said.
Currently, whether these bills pass, and in what form, will depend on how well each chamber plays their hand. And the winner will be whichever chamber, the House or the Senate, manages to give up the least.
Until then, spectators will be watching to see how the cards fall.
Copyright 2025 KUT 90.5